Features

Since the 1990s media artist Chris Hales has taken a solo DIY approach to create interactive film installations and performances that have been shown worldwide. His current interest is in customised film, in which user data (a video grab, a voice recording, selfie photo, or text responses) is incorporated into a short film in humorous ways, giving a personal experience for each user.

2021 has seen more new businesses being registered by women than ever before. I believe that when you truly set your intention to build your own business, and when you determine that nothing is going to stand in your way, you are already one solid step on the road to success. However, for women hoping to become mothers, or who already have families, the challenge of running your own business and bringing up a family at the same time is a complex one. Unless you have a stay-at-home and supportive partner, there will always be additional challenges.

The education sector is often called out due to its difficulty to implement change – whether that is because institutions have legacy systems in place, do not have the time it takes to adopt new technologies, or the affordability aspect. To understand how the education industry as a whole can take the necessary steps forward and achieve its long-anticipated digital transformation, we must first look at the key barriers holding it back.

You might have, in fact you most likely have, been hearing a lot of stuff about Clubhouse over the last few months. Although this audio-first social media platform actually came into existence well over a year ago, it has featured in the marketing and branding world’s Zeitgeist most heavily since the beginning of 2021.

The billions promised by the government for catch-up tuition sounds like a lot of money, but when you work it out on an individual basis it’s barely enough to cover a few hours of one-to-one tuition per student. I believe that edtech rather than tuition provides the answer to meet the catch-up challenge, and his micro-tuition experiment proves that this approach can work.

Are you sitting on an idea for a brilliant new app or digital product? Perhaps you have already started the process into making that idea a reality but it is taking too long or just not coming out exactly as you had imagined? At Intrface, we specialise in helping start-ups develop and realise their vision with methods such as Rapid Validation and something we like to call: The Design Sprint 2.0.

The business world is changing at a fast pace. In this climate, industry giants are forced to quickly re-evaluate how they work and to be able to face the new challenges in their markets: startups. 

Today’s workforce is increasingly becoming more age-diverse, with more workers staying in employment into their later years and delaying retirement to secure a better financial future for themselves and their loved ones.

Expanding the business abroad is one of the most important goals and the most sought after ones for young entrepreneurs. It gives them a significant rise in their customers and also increases their popularity manifolds.

Sanofi’s acquisition of Cambridge UK-based, Kymab in early 2021, in a deal worth up to $1.45bn, was the largest sale of a UK biotech company on record, but was soon dwarfed by the $6.9bn acquisition of GW Pharmaceuticals by Jazz. These announcements drew global attention to the UK life science and healthtech sectors, and form part of a growing trend in these industries for increased funding, commercial and M&A activity.

There is no doubt that consumer demand for sustainable options is on the increase. It is now becoming a huge factor in the choices buyers make when shopping for goods. A recent survey conducted by Deloitte found that 32% of consumers are highly engaged with adopting a more sustainable lifestyle, with 61% of respondents saying they have limited their use of single use plastic, and 34% have chosen brands with environmentally sustainable practices and values.

Whether you are running a fledgling startup from a home office or heading up an international company employing tens of thousands of employees across the world, the challenge over the past 16 months has been the same. Those business owners who successfully navigated their business through the COVID-19 pandemic should take pride in coming through such an uncertain period in one piece.

The restrictions the coronavirus pandemic has placed on thousands of businesses and their ability to trade normally has forced many more companies than ever before to shift their products and services online.

Now that just about everything happens online, cyber security has taken on a new significance. Unfortunately, hackers and other nefarious actors have leapt at the opportunity of the pandemic, and cyber crime is on the rise.

It’s fair to say that over the past 16 months or so, we’ve become more digitally-connected than ever before. We can’t underestimate the roles that data and digital technologies continue to play in helping small businesses survive during the pandemic. Almost every interaction we all undertake every day produces data. This creates endless opportunities, but with opportunity comes responsibility – particularly when it comes to how data is used.

It’s common for startups to experience growing pains and go through trial and error when getting their ideas off the ground. There are some misconceptions attached to running a startup, too – including the idea that finding the funding to successfully launch your startup is no easy task.

The internet is awash with help and advice for business owners. With all this information at your fingertips, is it worth having a dedicated mentor? The short answer is yes, without a doubt.

If your business is still using out-of-date systems and servers, then it’s high time that you started thinking about moving it over to the cloud. Not only will this help to reduce costs, but it can also make your life a whole lot easier.

The past year has seen many industries navigate a multitude of challenges and shifts to remain operational. However, as we emerge from a post-pandemic landscape, it’s time for organisations to gather their bearings and analyse how their business has fared over the past year and what long-term implications the global lockdown could have had on them.

Education doesn’t finish after school. With further qualifications required to move up in fields as diverse as healthcare, beauty therapy and construction, there’s a huge opportunity for edtech to help employers manage training. But how do you introduce your product to industries with plenty of trainees, but low tech adoption?